ElegantlyWasted

Q for all you out there with some good sobriey. How long was it before you started feeling really really good ( the whole mind body unit... mentally, spiritually, and physically)? Thanks in advance. Feeling more make than fake but not quite there yet. Humbly on day 49 this time.

Anna

Hi,

I have to say that it took awhile for me. I had a lot of guilt and shame to deal with, so it took awhile before I was feeling really, really good. But, it's a process and a journey and it's different for everyone. Forty-nine days is great! Good for you!

tommyk

49 days is a GREAT start!

Keep it going.

Firehazard

Hi Elegent
I remember because it wasn't to long ago. For me my physical

sobriety and P.A.W.S. was gone at

around nine months. My thinking(mental) has gotten much better around a

year with consitent prayer and step work. However, the jury is still out

emotionally. I feel it could take awhile and spiritually I am right were I need to

be.

The first benifit came at around three month because I miraculously felt

greatful for my highs and lows. Before it was just a grey haze.

Fourty nine days has alot of physical healing there CONGRATS

smacked

The more time that passes the better I feel. I thought I felt amazing at 6 months, but now a year in... I feel so much better than then!

But really, it took me at least 6-8 months to really have all the mind gunk worked out, a new life in the works, new friends, new hobbies, lots of therapy, and solid sobriety.. quitting drinking just by itself had very little to do with feeling any better, when it came down to it, and the first few days of actual physical detox was over.

But every month I don't think I can feel "better", and I still do!

Dee74

I'd love to say day 50 but...LOL

It was probably 3 months before I started feeling good, and probably 6 months before good became normal/familiar...but like Anna says, it's different for everyone. I drank a lot for a long time - I think I probably healed pretty quick considering.

That's not to say it was a constant struggle - it wasn't - and it got easier generally

And lets face it - anythings better than where we've been, right?

D

Rusty Zipper

EW,

good for you on a humble hopefully 50 today...

for me, the M, S & P bit, i truthfully don't remember...

what i do remember is i was so thrilled to make it just one day, after a liftetime of abuse,

i do know, that catapulted me on my journey...

CarolD

Hi EV...
By the end of 2 months I was back in mental and physical balance.

I was ttending AA before work...following an eating plan for hypoglycemia
taking a multi-vitamin + B complex daily....walking a lot.

All my best...

yeahgr8

after 6-8 weeks for me, eating healthy from day 1, taking vitamins and cod liver oil, exercising everyday and AA

Gypsy Feet

The day I forgave myself for my drunken debauchery was about 2 months in, and it made a huge difference. Another few months and I discovered gratitude, which was quite therapeutic as well. Maybe being guided to these discoveries through a program would have made it faster, I have the people on SR to thank.

Tazman53

Well the detox was pretty much over after about 4 days and in looking back on it the detox was no where near as bad as the mental obsession that took over after I was off the detox meds.

Physically my liver enzymes were back to normal in 3 months, the tenderness and pain in my liver were gone in a week or 2, the swelling of my liver went away at about 6 months. Now in regards to a lack of energy, well it turned out to be more mental then physical for me, once I MADE myself start some thing I had all the energy in the world.

Mentally after a month sober the fog began to lift and I thought the obsession to drink was gone as well. Well at 2 months sober I came as close to a relapse as I could have, if I would have had a drink within arms reach I would have relapsed, but instead I started praying and calling people I knew in AA and this passed.

Mentally I improved for at least a year, at about 4-5 months sober right after I finished my 5th step with my sponsor the obsession to drink was lifted, this was the freedom I had so desperatly wanted, for the most part my sanity returned as well.

So as far as mental freedom from my alcoholism I would say the 4-5 month point was it for me.

Wolfchild

My feelings fluctuate too much for me to use them as an indication of how i am doing. My thoughts are too temporary for me to use them to tell me how i am doing. i spent a large part of my active addiction judging my insides by what what taking place on the outside. i'm not willing to fall into that old pattern of behavior so i must look at the real evidence to have any clarity or understanding about my life & my recovery. In this way i can keep my spiritual balance, regardless of what i (or anyone else) says about me or my recovery. Even though the disease is arrested as far as drugs & alcohol are concerned, it is still within me and affects me in other ways. It seems that it still has some influence on my thinking and my attitudes, sometimes without me even knowing it is happening. i stay in contact with the God of my understanding daily because he has not suffered from this disease. He can see my life objectively and without prejudice. i have made it a point, since beginning to live a Third Step, to ask Him to help me see my life (and other people) as He sees them. Doing this has relieved me of trying to figure out what is going on within me based on what i am thinking or feeling about myself or others. i am not perfect in how i work this program of recovery and i don't have to. All i can do is what i am capable of doing and staying clean is my first priority everyday. Everything else is possible for me as long as i don't release that process of self obsession & self destruction all over again. As long as i am moving forward with my life & my recovery, that's enough for me.

Congrats on staying clean and continuing to reach out for help!

Hevyn

My experience is like Smacked's. It's true though, that it depends on how far gone we were. I was happy just to be alive in the beginning. I had to take baby steps to even feel human again. Then there was the guilt & remorse to deal with which did hold me back - as Anna mentioned. I also spent some time being resentful that I could never drink again - that took a few months to get over. After the first calendar year - when I saw that I really could make it past all the temptations of holidays, vacations, etc. I felt more confident. This really is an individual thing, though - you may feel fabulous very soon! I hope so. Congratulations on all your hard work.

stephnc

I really appreciate this thread. I'm at day 34 now and in some ways I feel so much better now than I did 34 days ago that it seems like a year, but I have my moments when fatigue or emotions overwhelm me...thankfully those moments don't last long, which I attribute to lots of AA meetings and a great sponsor.